The Dagger

I was sitting at my kitchen island, listening to my sister as she tried to convince me to go antique shopping with her. She sat across from me, both hands wrapped around a mug of steaming tea. I slowly stirred my own tea with a small spoon, listening to her beg me to come with her.

“Come on Lila, please? It will be so much fun. It's like, finding out how our great grandparents lived back in ye old time.” She said as I scrunched up my nose at my sister. Avery took a sip from her mug, as I sighed.

“I mean, our grandparents were from France, so it’s just a bunch of old things. It’s super creepy.” I told her and she gasped. She placed a hand dramatically on her chest. I rolled my eyes as her antics, a small smile spread across my lips.

“How could my own sister say such things. I do declare it is outright ghastly!” Her voice was breathy in a fake southern belle accent as we grinned at each other. Returning to her normal voice she tried one last tactic. Bribery. “I’ll buy you Gloria’s coffee,” she said in a sing-song voice, wiggling her eyebrows at me and I glared at her. Gloria was an older woman from Spain that owned a coffee shop, where made the absolute best coffee in town. It was my one weakness and my sister knew it. I feigned thinking about it for a moment before grinning at my younger sister.

“Fine, you win this round.”

An hour later, we were walking around a dusty store filled with antiques. Avery as a history major in college, so she was always excited about old things and loved being in this place that looked like nobody have been alive in there in decades. I ran my finger along a shelf, leaving a much cleaner trail behind it and crinkled my nose up in disgust.

“Avery, you owe me Gloria’s for a month!” I called out in French, as she rolled her eyes and went back to looking at the silver mirror that was in her hands.

I glanced up at the old woman who ran the store, who looked to be as old as some of her merchandise. She had white hair that resembled cotton candy stuck to her head, and a long nose that held up coke bottle glasses. Sitting at a long wooden countertop, She seemed to be glancing between my sister and me with a strange look on her face.

Going back to the shelves in front of me, I saw an old hairpin made out of dull silver with bright red gemstones on the top.

“See anything that catches your eye?” A voice behind me made me jump as spin around. The tiny old woman that was at the back of the store just seconds ago was standing behind me, vibrant blue eyes staring intently into mine from behind her glasses. I held up the hairpin slightly, shocked at how fast she moved, nodding.

“Oh, yeah, uh, I mean this is pretty...” my voice trailed off under her intense gaze. She produced something wrapped in old linen and pressed it into my hands.

“Adventure comes to those who need it most.” Her lips didn’t seem to move, yet I heard her voice clearly. She nodded once before leaving my side and returning to her place at the back of the room.

As I was looking down at the linen rectangle in my hands quizzically, my sister came over to my side.

“What’s that?” She asked me as I shrugged.

“Dunno. She just handed it to me and said something weird.” I replied as I put the rectangle down on the shelf behind me. I glanced back over to my sister and whispered in French

"She's gotta be a witch. I think Hansel and Gretel are in the back of her store." Avery sighed at my words, her eyes flittering around the room once more in a final sweep of her eyes.

“Well, there’s nothing here that’s interesting. Let's go, I promised Gloria’s” ignoring my comment about the lady who I called a witch, we left the store, heading out to get my favorite thing in life, coffee.

Later that night as I was sitting in my living room reading a book, I heard the trill of my phone ringing out telling me that I had a text message. Sighing, I placed my book down as stretched my arms above my head, going into the kitchen where my bag was. When I reached for my purse, I saw that same rectangle piece of fabric from the store again sitting next to my purse. I felt my eyebrows furrow as I picked it up and unraveled the old cloth, seeing what looked to be a bracelet jewelry box. Opening it I didn’t see a bracelet but a dagger. The daggers blade was about 4 inches long and made out of a strange blue-green crystal. I picked it up by the wooden handle, curious and saw a strange language on the blade. I could have sworn that it was pulsating with a blue strange glow.

“What kind of witch was she?” I half-joked to myself, slightly freaked out, as I gave a test slice in the air.

I dropped the knife and stepped back in shock when I saw where I sliced the air, a long thin line stayed. It glowed the same blue as the stone blade and made a low humming sound.

“Whaaaattt..” my voice trailed off as I picked up the dagger and stepped closer to the slice. It opened up, making the room glow a bright blue as I felt my body being sucked towards the slice in the air. Fear struck my chest as my body flew into this swirling blue light. My body twisted and flipped over and over, for what was a few seconds but felt like hours.

Finally I felt myself hit the grass, knocking the air out of my lungs for just a moment. I glanced around and felt the fear building up even more. What was once my darkened kitchen was now a bright and sunny day. I was sitting under a large oak tree facing what looked to be an old town. A dozen people walked around some carrying baskets and some carrying large burlap sacks over their shoulders. They were dressed in medieval-type clothes, long dresses with aprons and loose fabric pants and shirts. I stood up and backed against the tree, breathing heavily.

I glanced down at myself and almost fainted when I saw that what was once cute panda pajama shorts and a black tank top was now dark leather clothing. At my feet was an old leather satchel and a quiver of arrows and a beautiful bow made out of black wood. The jeweled dagger I once held was nowhere to be seen. I could feel the fear rising in my chest as I glanced around the area, scared out of my mind as I didn't recognize anything.

A second or two later I noticed a tall man walking towards me, with long black hair falling just past his shoulders. He was wearing similar black leather clothes and was walking slowly, hands outstretched, like I was a scared animal close to bolting. Which, in a way, I was.

“Hey. Hey come on, breathe.” His voice was low and smooth, as I flattened my back up against the tree more. He smiled softly at me.

“Don't come any closer.” I called out, my voice breaking towards the end. He stopped moving but kept his arms outstretched.

“Okay okay. Don’t worry, I’m not gonna hurt you, I want to help. My brother gets panic attacks like that too. I just wanna help.” He took a tentative step closer, only a few feet away at this point. “Come on, breathe with me.” he started to breathe deeply and slowly, and I followed suit

It took a few minutes but with his help, I managed to calm my racing heartbeat and breathing. He took small steps towards me until standing next to me, one hand on my shoulder.

“You okay now? You wanna tell me what got you all freaked out?” He questioned me as I glanced up at him. He had silvery grey eyes and a small smile on his face, but what threw me off was his ears. I didn’t notice before but they were long and pointed. I gasped and pointed this out and he laughed.

“Well, yeah, we elves do have pointed ears,” he said and pulled on my ear softly. I put my hand up to my hear and gasped again as I felt my ear longer and pointed like his were. His eyebrows furrowed and looked at me closer.

“But… elves don’t exist.” I stammered out as he laughed again.

“That like saying you don’t exist.” He said in a strange language that I somehow knew. My head felt like it was spinning as I leaned on the tree once more. His eyes searched my face and he frowned. “Do you... Are you okay?” He questioned me, this time in the first language. I shook my head, fighting back tears of fear as I took a deep breath.

“You’re going to think I’m crazy.” I said, “More so than you already do.” I was managing to smile a bit. He was still frowning at me, as I held a hand to my head, which felt dizzy.

“I don’t think you’re crazy. Just scared. Something's freaking you out and now I’m interested. And I had plans to just to bother my brother today.” He fake sighed and I couldn’t help but crack a grin. He elbowed my side softly before picking up my items.

“So, girl-whose-name-I-don’t-know, let’s get the bottom of this.” He handed me the backpack and the bow and held onto the quiver. I nodded and slipped the bag onto my back

“Lila. My name is Lila” I told him as he did an exaggerated bow.

“How do you do, Miss Lila, I am Shae. It's a pleasure to meet you.” his voice had a fake posh note to it and I smiled again and gave a fake curtsy.

“Well I'll be, It is wonderful to meet you Mister Shae.” I used my best southern belle accent as he let out a laugh. We had started walking towards the town at this point.

“So, what's scaring you. Cause you were scared before you saw me, so I’m guessing it couldn’t have been me. Was it the squirrels in the tree? They aren't usually scary, just bothersome.” He was smiling slightly and I could tell he was trying to lighten the mood.

“Promise you wont think I’m crazy?” I asked him as he held out his hand to me. I took it and shook his hand, preparing to tell the story in a way that didn’t make him toss me in a loony bin.

“Well, I guess it started with my sister and I going into an antique shop, meeting an old lady that has gotta be some evil witch or something. She gave me this knife thing and told me something about an adventure or whatever. I put the knife down and went home and hours later I get a text message on my phone and the knife was there and it cut the air and made like a portal or something and now I’m here.” my words were rushed as I tried to tell the story as best as I could, while Shae nodded along.

“Okay. Just a few questions. One, whats a text message? And two, what's a phone?” my mouth dropped open as I stared at him. He grinned as I stopped walking for a second.

“A phone. Like a cell phone? You guys don’t have cellphones here?” He shook his head as I groaned. We started walking again as I ran a hand through my hair. “well. A text message is like a short note or letter that we get on this little rectangle thing we call a cell phone, or just a phone. We can also talk to people through it.” I told him as he stopped walking outside a small one story wooden building.

“That sounds weird. But I’m not very smart so I can’t help you much. But my brother is very smart. If you would like to talk to him, maybe he can help. I give you my word that nothing bad will happen to you.” He told me as he put one hand on the doorknob. I nodded and stepped forward as he stopped me.

“Seeing as how you reacted when you saw me, I want to give you a warning. My brother isn’t my actual brother. We grew up together on the streets, so hes my brother by bond. But hes not… Well, a lot of people get scared when they see him. Hes really nice and smart but hes different looking.” Shae was very serious talking about this, more serious than I’ve seen him be yet. I nodded apprehensively, as Shae opened the door.

Inside wasn’t very large and there was a fireplace on one wall with a cooking stove next to it. To the right was a small round wooden table with two chairs. There was a wall at the back of the room with 3 doors, one of which was open and I saw a messy bed. Shae quickly hurried over to that door and closed it, his face slightly pink before knocking on the door to its left.

“Hey, Oz. We have a guest and I think you might want to meet her.” Shae called through the door. A muffled voice spoke back.

“If you’re going to have sex with her, please let me know before you bring her over.” The voice said as I felt my face heat up. I shuffled nervously by the front door looking away from Shae.

“Uh, that’s um” Shae coughed and opened Oz’s door up and poked his head in. He spoke in a language that I didn’t know and soon another man stepped out. My eyes grew wide as I looked at the being standing before of me before covering my shock up with a smile. If Shae and I were Elves, we looked mostly human. The man in-font of me didn’t look human at all. He had dark gray skin, almost black and two large horns coming from his eyebrows. His hair was brown and soft looking, brushed to the back hastily. His eyes which had no pupils were one solid color, a golden amber color. He was dressed well in a white button up shirt that was half tucked in and a tan vest, black pants, and brown boots. A long thin tail with a pointed end waved slowly behind him He waved one hand awkwardly as Shae ushered him closer.

“Lila, this is my brother Ozthos-” Shae started but was cut off.

“Oz.” The muffled voice from just a few seconds before belonged to this man who elbowed his brother in the side.

“-And he is super smart and reads a lot and is sort of a half-demon...“ Shae explained to me as I nodded, eyes following the tail that was waving around slowly around his feet.

“Hi, I’m uh, Lila.” my voice sounded way more confident than I felt, trying to process what I was seeing. Shae sat Oz and me down at the table and brought over another chair from Oz’s room.

“So Shae tells me that you’re from somewhere else?” Oz asked me. His voice wasn’t as deep as Shae’s and had a slight accent that I couldn’t place. I nodded as Oz flipped through a book he had in his hands to a clean page and a long piece of charcoal or chalk. “Can you tell me about what happened?” he cast his amber eyes down towards the paper and started writing something in a language that was unknown to me. I nodded and retold my tale.

Halfway through my story, Shae had gotten up and started making something in the little kitchen area. A few moments later he brought me a cup of steaming liquid. I stared at it as he placed one down in front of Oz and himself.

“Its tea. Don’t worry its not poisoned.“Shae winked at me as I sniffed my drink. It smelled sweet and almost fruity, but I couldn’t place it. I took a small drink and warmth flowed into my body, making me let go of the tension I didn’t know I held in my body. I let out a small sigh as Oz finished writing my story. I looked at the pages while Shae and I sipped our tea and sighed. He looked at me and closed his book.

“Well, I don’t know much about inter-dimensional travel, but there is a giant library in the library in Adalaithe.“Oz said this as both the guys slumped back into their chairs, defeated. I looked at them, confused.

“Wait, what's the problem?” I asked them as Oz finally realized that he had tea in front of him, and took a long drink, a look of relaxation washing over his face for a second.

“Well, he's a demonic being,” Shae said slowly. I nodded as Oz stood up and went back to his room, closing the door loudly. Shae leaned in close to me. “We’re in the Adalaithe Empire. The short story of it is that if you're not an elf or human, you're seen as lesser. And even though half-demons are quite common, they aren't allowed in the main cities, and the city of Adalaithe is the capital. Plus it’s really far from here, which would take a really long time to get there, and we don't have a lot of money to make the travel. If Oz went there, he’d be arrested and enslaved, or possibly killed.“ Shae told me as I gasped at him.

“That’s awful!” I said loudly as Shae shushed me. I felt my face heat up as we heard something move in Oz’s room. “He doesn’t seem like a bad guy,” I remarked as Shae nodded.

“He’s not. But the damn Empress is dead set on making people think that anybody that isn’t human, or elf are lesser citizens. Even half-elves are seen as lower.” Shae spat out, hatred on his face. It was weird to see, as since the moment I met him he's been goofy and kind.

It was silent for a moment longer before Oz’s door opened up, and he stepped out, a leather bag slung across one shoulder and across his chest. With a look of determination on his face he grabbed the pendant around his neck that was previously hidden by his clothing and spoke in his strange language. His appearance shifted from that of his regular form to a young human male in his early 20s with red hair that fell to past his rounded human ears and green eyes. Oz’s voice came from his altered appearance.

“I learned this spell not too long. Let’s put it to good use.” Oz sounded confident and sure of himself, yet Shae looked even madder than before.

“I’m not gonna let you do that. It's dangerous, and for all we know, there’s nothing there that will help us!” Shae yelled out as I shrank deeper into my chair and shifted my eyes into my cup of half drank tea, feeling extremely awkward.

“What if she is here for a reason? What if she came here to you, and to me because she needs us? Or better yet because we need her. We’ve been hiding away here for three years. Three years of me hiding in this house while you can walk freely! I want to help and I can help. And I want to walk out of this house and never look back Shae!” Oz was yelling at this point at Shae, who got deathly quiet.

“Fine. If you really want it that badly. But don’t say that I didn’t warn you.” Shae stormed out of the house. I sat there for a moment longer before Oz moved his chair to next to mine.

“I’m sorry you had to witness that. Shae is just protective of me. We’ve spent most of our lives together, taking care of each other. He’s just worried things will go wrong.” Oz’s voice was soft as if he was talking to a scared child, which I kind of felt like. I nodded and met his eyes and smiled, faking happiness.

“It’s no problem. Really. You guys argue just like my sister and I.” I said as I grabbed my bag at my feet. I opened the top of it and looked in for the first time. Inside was a small leather-bound book and a smaller leather pouch tied at the top. I reached for the pouch which was quite heavy for its size and Oz gasped when I opened it. Inside was small golden coins, each the size of a quarter from my world. On one side was an indentation of a crown while the other side read 'Adalaithe' in fancy script.

“How did you get a hundred gold pieces?” Oz was in shock as he lifted up one coin. I shrugged, not really knowing what they were.

“Is that a lot?” I asked him as he nodded, flipping the coin between his thumb and finger.

“Well, yeah. Each gold piece is 10 silver pieces, which each silver piece is 10 copper pieces,” he said, pulling a silver piece out of his pocket. The same size as the gold piece, but instead of a crown it had an arrow on one side. I shrugged, still not knowing if what I had was a lot of money here. Oz explained a bit more. “I mean, most people may not even make 20 gold a year. One silver piece is about as much as most people make in a day.”

I nodded, as I packed the gold back into the pouch and stood up, following Oz out the door, ready to start the trip that would be able to take me home.